HOUSE MEMORIAL 47

53rd legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2017

INTRODUCED BY

Antonio "Moe" Maestas

A MEMORIAL

RECOGNIZING THE VIRTUES OF EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE.

     WHEREAS, emotional intelligence is the capability of individuals to recognize their own and other people's emotions, to discriminate between different feelings and label them appropriately and to use emotional information to guide thinking and behavior; and

     WHEREAS, the concept of emotional intelligence first appeared outside of academia in 1995 and served as the missing link to a finding that people with average intelligence quotients, or IQs, combined with high emotional intelligence outperform those with the highest intelligence quotients seventy percent of the time; and

     WHEREAS, prior to this finding, many people assumed that the sole source of success was a person's intelligence quotient; and

     WHEREAS, decades of research now point to emotional intelligence as the critical factor that sets star performers apart from the rest of the pack; and

     WHEREAS, Howard Gardner, an influential Harvard theorist, believes that for most people emotional intelligence is more important than intelligence quotient in attaining success in their lives and careers; and

     WHEREAS, an individual's success and success in the individual's profession depends on the ability to read other people's signals and to react appropriately to them; and

     WHEREAS, there are five major categories of emotional intelligence skills that are recognized by researchers in this field:

          A. self-awareness, the ability to recognize an emotion as it happens by tuning in to true feelings;

          B. self-regulation, the ability to use techniques to alleviate negative emotions such as anger, anxiety or depression;

          C. motivation, which requires clear goals and a positive attitude, which individuals can, with effort and practice, learn how to think more positively;

          D. empathy, the ability to recognize how people feel; and

          E. social skills, including the effective use of interpersonal skills; and

     WHEREAS, the concept of emotional intelligence has also been embraced by educators in the form of programs in social and emotional learning; and

     WHEREAS, in the United States, many school districts and even entire states currently make social and emotional learning a curriculum requirement, mandating that, just as students must attain a certain level of competence in math and language, they should also master essential skills for living; and

     WHEREAS, in some states and nations, social and emotional learning has become the organizing umbrella for programs in character education, violence prevention, anti-bullying, drug prevention and school discipline; and

     WHEREAS, emotional intelligence has also had an impact in the world of business, particularly in the areas of leadership and employee development; and

     WHEREAS, The Harvard Business Review has hailed emotional intelligence as "a ground-breaking, paradigm-shattering idea", and one of the most influential business ideas of the decade; and

     WHEREAS, in the complex world today of messages coming from many different sources, emotional intelligence competencies provide valuable tools for understanding those messages;

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that the virtues of emotional intelligence be recognized and embraced.

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